Bazemore wins his first Funny Car title of season in Seattle

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 14 of 23
SCHUCK'S AUTO SUPPLY NHRA NATIONALS
Pacific Raceways
Kent, Wash.
Race Date: July 21-23, 2006


KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2006) - Whit Bazemore won his first NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series Funny Car national event of the season today at the Schuck's
Auto Supply NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the 20th of his career, and
ended the drought since his last win at Las Vegas 1 in 2005.

It was also the first victory for tuner Todd Okuhara as a crew chief.

Driving the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, Bazemore
faced off against his teammate and points leader Ron Capps in that round,
scoring a solid victory with a 5.036-second elapsed time at 309.42 mph to
Capps' 5.108/293.15.

Bazemore's goal was to "leave" on Capps, and he accomplished that by
launching off the starting line with a .060 of-a-second reaction time (.000
is perfect) to Capps' .092.

The two-time U.S. Nationals champion and two-time Seattle winner defeated
Phil Burkart Jr. in the opening round with a 4.994/310.20, Tony Bartone in
the second round with a 5.033/306.60, then Tony Pedregon in the semis with a
5.029/307.30.

"It's a great day," he said. "Just to get back in the winner's circle feels
so good. Especially for the team. It really is a team sport and to suffer
like we have, to be less than perfect and for the team to basically rebuild
itself over the past two or three months and to come out and run well and
still not get the results - which has been the case for the last four or
five races - to finally get the result is a great feeling. And well deserved
for the guys on the team.

"We obviously know what it takes to win and be successful out here and we
have all that. The Matco Tools sponsorship is huge. Don Schumacher's team
has lot of technology and talent. So, there are no excuses, and that's how
we like to race.

"With Don Schumacher there are no excuses not to be successful. So, sooner
or later the pressure starts to pile up on everybody. Matco Tools wants a
winning car, Don wants a winning car, I certainly want a winning car, and
all the guys want a winning car. So it's just a matter of persevering and
focusing and making things happen.

"When you have a (losing) streak like we had, you just have to suck it up.
You know what it takes, you know you can do it, you know you have
everything, you know you have the people behind you. It's just a matter of
trying to be perfect on race day in the car, controlling what you can
control, and staying very positive, and that's what our team did.

"Everyone on the team controlled what they had to control perfectly. And
when you do that you're in the winner's circle."

As for running against his teammate: "It is fun and it's a challenge.
They're a great team. They're leading the points by quite a margin. I don't
know if they're leading by quite a margin," Bazemore laughed, "but they're
leading over us by quite a margin and that's what I look at. They've had a
great, great season. Capps is on his game, he's a great driver.

"My goal was to leave on him and drive the car as perfectly as I could and
let the rest take care of itself. And it did.

"We're very motivated. A lot of guys say you should never look at who's in
the other lane. Well, I'm not that kind of person. I always know who I'm
racing. You want to know their characteristics and sometimes it's easier to
get motivated to race other people than it is some other people, which isn't
good. I do better under pressure and when you're racing a guy like Capps, or
any of our guys on the team, there's more pressure because we certainly want
to be the best guy on the team at the end of the day."

"It feels great," said crew chief Todd Okuhara of his first win as a crew
chief. "The guys worked hard all weekend, and Whit got us into the winner's
circle.

"We felt we had a car that was capable of winning a while ago, and we've
finally put it all together. Yesterday (in qualifying) was a good day for
us, and to finish it off today is great."

Don Schumacher Racing had a double-win today, with Tony Schumacher claiming
his second Top Fuel title of the year. "Overall, the team did just
phenomenal today," said team owner Don Schumacher. "All of the Funny Cars,
both dragsters, Richie Stevens in the Pro Stock car (semis). It was a huge
win for the Matco Tools team here and for the U.S. Army team. Both of them
are moving their way right back into contention in the points race and it's
a big race for my teams overall, to say the least. I've been very fortunate
this year with the amount of wins that I've had already this year (15 in all
four classes) with all of the teams I have. it was great. This was a special
day."

Next up is the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma,
Calif., July 28-30.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Ron Capps, 1105
2. John Force, 1017
3. Robert Hight, 855
4. Tony Pedregon, 854
5. Eric Medlen, 811
6. Gary Scelzi, 810
7. Tommy Johnson Jr., 792
8. Whit Bazemore, 737 (winner today)
9. Cruz Pedregon, 609
10. Del Worsham, 599